I. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to a vehicle body front structure including a front bumper installed at the front end of the body of a vehicle.
II. Background
A known example of a vehicle body front structure is configured to absorb an impact load acting from the front of the vehicle when a pedestrian collides with the body of a vehicle with an impact absorber, thus protecting the leg of the pedestrian (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2008-74154).
Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2008-74154 discloses a vehicle body front structure including a first impact absorber. The first impact absorber includes crush cans respectively connected to the front ends of a pair of frames (corresponding to side members of the present invention) extending in the front-rear direction of a vehicle, and a beam portion disposed extending across the crush cans in the width direction of the vehicle. This vehicle body front structure is also provided with, in addition to the first impact absorber, a second impact absorber having a lower rigidity than the first impact absorber and extending below the beam portion to the vicinity of the rear face of a bumper fascia.
According to Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2008-74154, the provision of the second impact absorber in addition to the first impact absorber increases the impact load absorbency and enhances the pedestrian protection performance.
However, sufficient protection of the pedestrian's leg requires not only to simply absorb the impact load, but also to reduce loads, such as shear and bending, on the knee joint portion of the legs. That is, how the impact load is received and absorbed at the front end of the vehicle is critical to the vehicle body front structure.
It is difficult to sufficiently protect the pedestrian's leg merely by increasing the impact load absorbency as in the vehicle body front structure disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2008-74154.
In view of the foregoing problem, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle body front structure that can achieve an enhanced pedestrian protection performance.